Stallings said the incident twisted the chassis, with Jimmie Johnson bruised but OK.

“He feels ugly but OK,” Stallings said. “He’s not injured in any way. He may be sore, but there’s no reason for him not to race this weekend.”

The team – with Johnson pitching in with his aircraft – began planning to move engineers between Orlando and Houston, shipping in the No. 98 chassis.

“We know that car,” Stallings said. “We won a championship (2007) and won a record number of races (seven) in that car. Alex (Gurney) said ‘this might be a blessing.’ It was a minor setback. The car is undriveable, and we will not race it in this event.”

Shortly after Stallings remarks, however, the decision was made to fix the No. 99 car.

After a Riley Technologies rep inspected the crash damage from the morning incident, the team decided to remove the section of the chassis behind the driver compartment. Meanwhile, a new rear-end assembly is being put together at the Riley shop in Concord, N.C.

The team hopes to be back on track for Friday morning practice.

The wreck was reportedly caused by a GT car which moved cut in front of Johnson.